I finished the Le Cordon Bleu book! I count it as a tiny accomplishment, because I've been pretty bad with completing any book the past half-year or so... For some reason attention span is pretty short now and end up book-surfing, with several half-read books lying forgotten in some corner of my room bleah.

Though I still find some parts pretty cliche, there were actually a few pretty entertaining/decent chapters somewhere in the middle of this book lah. But I think I'm pretty sure I won't want to be a real cook. Doubt that I'd really enjoy all that poultry boning, food-to-be murdering, getting guts out of fish etc. Nonetheless, this book and the lil baking projects I've embarked on recently made me feel like cooking/baking actually builds character and quick-wittedness. If anything, I've certainly felt like the ingredients prep stage/ baking process are good training for one's perseverance, patience, and 'crisis mgmt' skills. Heh the book also taught me how to curse in French... something I wld think in my head but prob wun say out loud when say, the only egg you have and need for your recipe rolls off table-top and commits suicide. Merde.

Sesame treats

Decided to try out another simple recipe from my Okashi recipe book this weekend; and made some cookies - packed with white/black sesame goodness :) Once again, I met with some little mishaps - burnt a batch of sesame seeds and one egg rolled off table-top and committed suicide. But other than that, cookies turned out looking pretty decent lah. I dunno if they taste like what they are supposed to actually ;) As they are on the drier side, they should go quite well with a cup of tea/ latte.

你是黑的还是白的...? Decided to try out a 'zen' arrangement while laying out the sesame seeds for light roasting... After finishing this, I was reminded of Kyoto's Ryoanji, this famous Zen garden that I couldn't quite appreciate heh...

还是 chao da 的？Being good at following instructions, I disregarded mum's advice and roasted them for 10 min... Alas! By the 8th min or so, my white sesame seeds were all gone case... (Somehow the black ones got more resistance, not that chao da actually.)

It's always wise for first-timers to buy some extra ingredients... 2nd attempt was more acceptable ;)

Cookies are but butter in sheep's clothing...

The dough mix, finally done! It turned out a lil gooey, no wonder I have to refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.

Ready to be baked! They look like pumpkin kueh speckled with sesame seeds or something..

Not anymore! Cookies fresh out of oven...

Mine came pretty close to the real thing lah ;)

Made more bite-sized ones too!